Political economies of climate change

Abstract

Political economy approaches across the social sciences provide powerful explanations for important dynamics within the global response to climate change. This article discusses in particular how they provide explanations of the social origins of greenhouse gas emissions, the dominant policy and governance responses to climate change, recurrent political conflicts over these responses, and the patterns of bargaining between states, businesses, and other actors. Underlying these dynamics are a set of contradictions or tensions between the character of capitalism as a social system and the demands of decarbonizing the global economy, specifically: between the imperative for growth that constrains and shapes responses; concerning the power of large transnational businesses and other incumbent interests to block responses; and over the embeddedness of carbon emissions in daily life. The article explores the implications of these contradictions as well as some of the important theoretical debates about the limits of political economy approaches. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance Climate Economics > Economics and Climate Change

Evolution of national climate adaptation agendas in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia: the role of national leadership and international donors

“…The samples for interviews and the survey involved purposive snowballing based on stakeholder analysis of the adaptation landscape in each country and further recommendations by interviewees. The survey enabled collection of quantitative data and simple open-ended questions, whilst semi-structured interviews allowed emergence and exploration of issues deemed important to the interviewees (Patton 1980). Policy analysis was also conducted over a 6-year period on relevant climate change policies, strategies and programmes (see England et al 2018b) obtained through government sources and cross-referenced by interviewees.…”

“…In so doing, it acknowledges a role for bargaining between different actors (e.g. state and non-state) (Paterson and P-Laberge, 2018). In terms of outcomes, political economy analysis can also shed light on the shaping and allocation of risk and opportunity (Gotham 2016;Nightingale 2017;Mallin 2018).…”

Towards a Moral Compass to Guide Sustainability Transformations in a High-End Climate Change World

“…This is indeed true in an ideal world, whereas real world constraints can hinder or even imperil the inclusion of moral considerations in governance arrangements for the transition to sustainability. For instance, with regard to the energy transition, the political economy of climate change suggests that the dynamics of global responses to the climate crisis are influenced and, to a large extent, shaped by entrenched contradictions and tensions between the structure and goals of current socio-economic systems and the demands of decarbonising the global economy [23]. In particular, the transition to a carbon-free, sustainable future confronts a dramatic clash of existential interests.…”

Growth strategies and consumption patterns in transition: From Fordism to finance-driven capitalism

“…Structural contradictions between the capitalist growth economy and the ecological system must remain within certain limits so that the legitimacy and maintenance of the overall social order are not fundamentally undermined. Tensions and contradictions between these two take on different forms, presenting themselves as continuous development or as rupture, depending on diverse types of institutional regulation (Koch, 2012;Paterson and Laberge, 2018). An institutional attempt to link analyses of production patterns to those of consumption has been proposed by the regulation approach, which -at least in the Parisian version -continues key insights from Marx's Critique of Political Economy, such as 'modes of production' and 'social formations', and complements them with 'intermediary concepts' ('accumulation regime' and 'mode of regulation').…”